You’ve Got to EARN the Right…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Doing some ‘spring cleaning’ today, e.g. looking for my damn gloves in the closet, I ran across my old flight jacket hanging in the back of the closet, and thought y’all might get a laugh out of this trip down memory lane…



This is the front of the jacket I wore, less the TACCO patch on the right sleeve…



And the back of the jacket…


In the early 80’s when I went through AOCS to become an NFO, we had to attend ground school at VT-10 in Pensacola.  Most of the instructors were young Lieutenants just off their first squadron tours, and had maybe 5-6 years in the Navy.


We had this one particular LT who’d been in a West Coast A-6 squadron who liked to wear his flight jacket when he instructed…


One day one of the young Ensigns asked him a question about one of his patches.  He went into a detailed description of the patch and how he’d ‘earned’ it, and on and on…  He finally closed with the comment that, “You’ve got to EARN the right to wear a flight jacket with patches on it, and not a one of you in here has EARNED that right.”


The WO and I looked at each other, and the ex-Coastie sitting behind us said, “THAT is a bunch of BS.”


After class, we adjourned to the club for a libation or three, and it turned out we all had our “Fleet” flight jackets with us.  Now at this point, I had 11 years in, 9 years in the Fleet; the WO had 19 years in, 14 years in the Fleet; and the Coastie had 11 years in and 9 years for flying as a SAR crewman and C-130 crewman in places like Kodiak.  


Looking at the schedule, we found we would have this particular LT again two days later right after lunch, so we decided we’d all bring our “Fleet” flight jackets and wear them to his class…


So… Two days later, we meet in the parking lot, change to our “Fleet” jackets and hustle into the class room well ahead of the rest of the students and staff…


Since we sat near the back of the class, only a couple of folks noticed what we were wearing and that ALL three of us had more patches than the LT did; and I saw a few smiles as some folks figured out what we were up to.


The LT came in and started his lecture and for the first 15 minutes or so didn’t notice anything. Then he saw the WO’s jacket and literally stopped in mid-sentence, walked back to where we were sitting and asked us whatinthehell did we think we were doing.  


I said something to the effect of, we were just wearing what we’d EARNED, just like him; and he went off!  He told us that we weren’t allowed to wear ‘those’ jackets, we were disruptive, and we were to go see the Ops O right now…


So, off we went to Ops, and into the Ops O’s office.  He looked up and asked what we’d done now, weren’t we supposed to be in class?


So I explained what had gone on, with concurrences from the WO, and the Coastie…


OBTW, both the WO and I had known the Ops O for about 8 years, having flown with him in a previous squadron 🙂


He just started laughing, looked at us, shook his head, and said, “You assholes know better than to screw with the instructors and you know this school is NOT set up to deal with people like you!”


So he took us back to class, and called the LT out in the hall and had a ‘chat’ with him about the fact that there were people in classes than HAD been in the Fleet, and probably much longer than he had, and he’d better watch his comments before they come back and bite him in the butt…   


Needless to say, we were ‘closely’ watched after that, and our class tended to get the senior instructors!


In spite of all the BS, we all made it through, and ended up with successful careers as officers 🙂

A Response to Joan Peterson…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

I’d been working on a post to respond to Joan, as I’m really sick and tired of the ‘games’ being played with the victims of ALL violence…


However, in taking a break I went over and read a few blogs this morning and was stunned by the cogent response Minuteman has written.  


Go HERE and take a few minutes to read his post.  He said everything I wanted to say, and did it much better than I ever could.


We, the concealed carry community, chose NOT to be victims, and we are willing to help anyone who wants the ability to fight back.  

Two Wolves…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Pretty good one and worth thinking about…

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. 



He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

“One is Evil –  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good –  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”


Doesn’t get much simpler than that…


Back off the road finally, looking forward to actually sleeping in my OWN bed 🙂


Night all….zzzzzz

Dilberts, in real life…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

A magazine recently ran a ‘Dilbert Quotes’ contest.  They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers.

These were voted the top ten quotes in corporate America:
    

   ‘As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards with photo ID. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks.'(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp in Redmond WA )
 
    ‘What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter.’ (Lykes Lines Shipping)
 
    ‘E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business.’ (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
 
    ‘This project is so important we can’t let things that are more important interfere with it.’ (Advertising/ Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
 
    ‘Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule.'(Plant Manager, Delco Corporation)
 
    ‘No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We’ve been working on it for months. Now go act busy for a few weeks and I’ll let you know when it’s time to tell them.’ (R&D supervisor,
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/ 3M Corp)
 
    Quote from the Boss: ‘Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.’ (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
 
    My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we  could change her burial to Friday. He said,’That would be better for me.’ (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
 
    ‘We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees.’ (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

One can only wonder how these people every GOT to a position of power…  Or is this the Peter Principal in action???

In the Travel is Fun category…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Up at 0600, van at 0700, two hour ride to a meeting, 1 1/2 hour meeting, 2 hour ride to the airport, 4 1/2 hours sitting in the airport, 8 hour flight, land at 0700L, clear customs (appx 1 hour), get bag, go to local gym, SSS, clean clothes and go to another meeting at 0900…


I ‘really’ don’t understand how people think this crap is fun…


sigh…


I truly envy y’all that have a stable life, home every night, sleeping in your own beds…


I’ll quit bitching now, because I DO have a job, and at my age, I can be happy that I do…


I got an email asking why I hadn’t posted on the politics or anything else, and honestly it’s because I’m just so damn tired of the BS…


Y’all have a good evening, or morning as the case may be!

Military ‘Thinking"…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Another one that came over the transom from a mil email thread…


This is part of an ongoing discussion I have been having with friends from all the services about the gulf that has existed between the military and civilian population.  We are worried because, while it existed in my time, the gulf is growing exponentially and this note provides one of the reasons.  I encourage you to read it. 
It is forwarded (below) unedited.  
To the vets from all the wars — those of us who saw combat know what it cost.  THANKS! 
To those who have not had the honor to serve, here is something to think about the next time you hear some ultra-liberal say that people who are actively trying to kill us are really “peaceful” or when one of the Republican candidates for President says that 9/11 was the fault of the United States, or when people say that people captured on the battlefield should be arrested and tried in US criminal courts rather than being treated as an enemy combatant, or when the man sitting in the White House occupying a chair he is clearly not qualified to fill then proceeds to apologize for America. 
Remember ours is the only nation on earth that has established itself as the clear super power capable of totally conquering the world (post WW II) — and then disbanded their military asking as they departed the rescued nations only enough ground to bury the men and women who died giving them a chance at freedom while protecting our Nation, our People, and our Constitution. 
Remember that while men and women were and are standing on the wall protecting the Constitution, we had politicians, abetted by citizens and the judiciary, who were at the same time willfully destroying that document AND STILL ARE.
————– as received ————–

I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.

My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class.   She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter.   She wasn’t crying because it had been her dream for me to go there.   She was crying because she knew how hard I’d worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer.   I was going to get that opportunity.

That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the following:   Nick, you’re a smart guy.   You don’t have to join the military.   You should go to college, instead.

I could easily write a tome defending West Point and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won’t.

What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing.

      In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years.
      In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years.
      Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror.

Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse.   Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military.

Taxes did not increase to pay for the war.
War bonds were not sold.
Gas was not regulated.
In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts.

The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families.  The volunteers.   The people who swore an oath to defend this nation.  You.

You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on.   You’ve lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you’ll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don’t understand.

Then you come home to a nation that doesn’t understand.
They don’t understand suffering.
They don’t understand sacrifice.
They don’t understand that bad people exist     

They look at you like you’re a machine – like something is wrong with you. Like you are the misguided one – not them.

When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can’t understand the macro issues they gathered from books, with your bias.

You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that.


Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more.

But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this.   You know your country will never pay back what you’ve given up.

You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them.   
                 
Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform.   But you do it anyway.   You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 – YOU SERVED.


Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group. 

Not really politically correct (not that I really give a shit), but pretty much on point as far as the sentiment and the bottom line…  

And all we are currently hearing is more cut the military language coming from the administration even Obama showing up at the Pentagon, but have you noticed you have not heard the FIRST word about cutting any entitlements in this round of ‘budget’ cuts???  

I sure as hell haven’t…

But the more interesting part is how the Pentagon brief is being ‘spun’, and how the “senior military leadership” was on stage with the president and ‘strongly’ behind his steps… Yeah, right…

They were there because they were told to be by Paneta, who has NO agenda for how to manage the hollow force other than ‘hope’ that requirements are lessened… Fat Chance…

China, North Korea, Iran???  And not enough troops NOW to fight two limited conflicts and we’re going to cut even more?  And get rid of 20% of the contractor support?  And what ‘real’ programs are going to get cut?  


h/t JP

Random Travel #789…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

You “know” you’re in trouble when you check in and get a piece of paper with your key that says:


“Please to be adviced that you may experience momentary changes in water temperature and water pressure in the course of your abolutions.”


When you are the ‘last’ (literally) faucet on the pipe and furthest from the boiler and water line, EVERY @#^* room ahead of you DOES impact you…  And those momentary changes?


Try full hot to full cold in about a millisecond… sigh… Talk about doing the St. Vitus dance in the shower!


So…. I get up at 0400 to do my ‘thing’, and wonder out to the smoke pit about 0430, only to find I’m not the only insomniac smoker…


There is a 50ish lady, in bathrobe and I kid you not, PINK bunny slippers with ears; a young couple in their 20’s (obviously newly married), a little (maybe 5’5″) old man with some OLD Navy tattoos and myself.


As usual, people started chatting, turns out the 50ish lady finished the housing pack out yesterday, and she and hubby are heading to Tucson after a 31 year career in the Navy, to a house they’ve never seen!  They ‘traded’ houses with an Air Force Colonel about 4 years ago, who was renting their house in San Diego and liked it… Apparently neither of them have ever been to Tucson, but figured it wouldn’t be a bad place to retire 🙂


She did offer a couple of pieces of advice to the young lady, and those were shave your legs, and let him cuddle… LOL


The young couple (early 20’s) were just transferring in from Stateside, and are both active duty, he’s going to a ship, and she’s going to a shore command locally.  And at the shaving comment, they both looked at each other and blushed… 🙂 They were grade school friends, and ‘found’ each other again in boot camp, and married in Norfolk where they were stationed before.  Both of them want to make the Navy a career, and it turns out both are E-5s and pretty much on fast tracks to get their education and advancement.


The old man turns out to be 92 grew up in Texas (and retired back there), retired Navy Master Chief in the early 70’s, ex-Destroyerman (EM Mate), and over here to see his grand-daughter.  He said he was stationed here in 46-47, and plans to show his daughter his old stomping grounds IF he can find them again…  He said his wife passed two years ago, and he’s pretty much bored so decided to go see friends while they were still alive, and decided to come see his grand-daughter since he was ‘heading’ West.  He was a veteran of TF 38, aboard USS Hickox, and retired out of San Diego as the Master Chief of DESRON Five.  He also said he hadn’t been on a ship since he retired, so he was going to get his daughter to five him a tour 🙂


Flash forward to 0800, he and I are standing out in the smoke pit, chatting and smoking when I hear, “Grandpa!” and see a little blonde coming running up and hug him.  Turns out his grand-daughter is early 30’s and a Chief herself!  Something tells me those two are going to have fun!


Gonna go wash clothes and watch the games… Y’all have a good weekend!

Inanimate Objects with Personalities…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Peter put up a post HERE about robots, and another HERE in response to Raven Prometheus, who put up a post on robots HERE.  Now if I haven’t confused you enough…


Stepping back 38 years we had a P-3 Orion C/S YD-10 that was an alright bird, flew well, no real quirks; until…


In 1973 it had a mid-air with a C-130 off Guam during a search and rescue flight (Both acft made it back to Guam successfully).  It was determined that there was ‘minimal’ damage (only 8 feet of the left wing missing), so a trim, lap patch, draining tank 4 and bringing in a test crew would allow the aircraft to be ferried back to Alameda for repairs…


I know the pilot who flew the ferry flights (Guam to Hawaii, Hawaii to Alameda) fairly well, and many years later he admitted he STILL has nightmares about those two flights (more on that later)…


So in late 1974 we get the airplane back, new wing tip, and a four foot wide, ten foot long bandaid painted on the underside of the wing.  Now this airplane hasn’t flown an operational flight in almost two years, and equipment needs to be upgraded, and there are acceptance flights, etc. (e.g. a LOT of work to get the bird back up to ASW capable).  So the squadron check pilot gathers a min crew to go fly the acceptance, and off they go; only to return with smoke/fumes in the tube in the middle of takeoff roll after a ‘shudder’ in the airframe…


Nothing found, out they go again, get in the air and everything works fine, so the in check is good…


Our crew draws YD-10 as an ASW trainer/ASW acceptance flight a few days later,  and off we go, no problems on take-off, climb out, transit, descent to onsta.  Down at altitude we power up all the equipment and the airplane literally shudders like a dog shaking off water…


Declare an emergency, climb out, run for base with everybody in parachutes just in case. Smoke and fumes in the tube, activated the fire bill, land safely, nothing found…


Turn back around, go back out, and lose the pitot static system on takeoff (e.g. no airspeed, VSI, important instruments)…  Come back around and land, nothing found again…


Jump forward a month, another crew takes the airplane and again it shudders like a dog, the crew comes off station and 15 minutes out of base, the aileron power pack in the service center explodes…  


Crew makes it back and lands safely, again no proximate cause found to a one in a million failure…


We take the airplane on deployment to SE Asia in 1975, fly the hell out of it (at one point the acft is never shut down for four days), and no problems.  Another crew takes YD-10 for a MAP track off Vietnam, three hours out the airplane shudders and the crew tries to turn around and finds the rudder is locked up…  They used differential power to turn the airplane around and fly back to Cubi, only to find the rudder is fine on the descent and landing…


Nothing found…


Lastly, we took off for a similar MAP track, descended onstation (200 feet off the water, 200kts). As we burned off fuel, we would shut down engines to conserve fuel, started to do that, and the airplane shuddered again… Pilots kicked off the autopilot and were hand flying the airplane as #1 was shut down, and we got a prop failed to feather, prop overspeed…


NOT a good situation, as the prop continues to rotate albiet much slower than the other props, and is now disconnected from the engine, and is putting one hellva lot of drag on the airframe.  Not to mention the massive amounts of vibration caused by said prop…


Which popped circuit breakers throughout the airplane, cutting comms with homeplate…


We never got high enough to bail out (1000 feet), and never got more than 5kts above stall speed, but the pilots managed to hand fly the bird all the way back to Cubi and land it successfully…


(Note: another crew in another squadron had a similar situation, which ended up with them crashing and loss of 5 personnel)


So yes, inanimate objects CAN have a personality… I’m firmly convinced YD-10 ‘knew’ when things were going to happen, and warned the crew with that shudder…


And the pilot who flew it back to Alameda? He told me in 1998 he STILL has nightmares about looking out the side window and not seeing a wingtip, knowing he was going to crash and all of them would die.  He also told me the airplane did shudder occasionally on both flights, for no apparent reason, and the airplane actually flew ‘normally’ with that much wing missing and no aileron on that side…


And no we didn’t name her…

A Girl and Her Gun Giveaway…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Over at a Girl and a Gun, she’s giving $300 toward a female getting gun training… Link HERE 


For any of you females who wonder by, this is well worth it for protection of yourselves, and your loved ones…


A few of us are ponying up ammo and other stuff to help out, and want whomever wins to get good training at minimal cost out of pocket.